Order of Authors

In article <01HLHBOJXS360002MG at HAL.HAHNEMANN.EDU>,
MCGEED at HAL.HAHNEMANN.EDU wrote:
> Why don't technicians suually get authorship? Granted they
don't write
> or proofread the paper usually, but they overcompensate for this deficit
by the
> amount of data gathering and analyzing they do, and participate in the ideas
> during group discussions. Technicians are very underrated, I feel, as they do
> an enormous amount of work- some of the key experiments in papers are done by
> technicians, yet they are not authors, but merely acknowledged. I'm just
> curious why technicains aren't more recognized for the work they do.
I think the criteria that were posted a while back were revealing. I can't
remember the details but one was that each author should be able to give a
10minute talk on the work. I can think of several scientist authors who
might have difficulty with that one.
But,
technicians are usually less publication dependant for future employment,
they are more mobile from job to job in that they are technically
qualified ie have certain practical skills that can be plugged into any
project, the scientist usually has a specialist field of study and an in
depth knowledge of a given area.
many (note I am careful not to say all) aren't interested (for whatever reason)
It would generate huge author lists
I have seen some good technicians get used and screwed (including
literally!) and others get the recognition they deserve..I know of one
Prof. whoc started washing glassware and more power to his elbow!
--
Live forever or die trying